Danes (those with Danish nationality) can only vote in Danish national elections if they're residents in Denmark. It's part of the constitution and many ex-pat Danes would like to change that law, as we're not allowed to have double nationalities, and as such, living abroad leaves us in a no-mans-land when it comes to elections and politics.
EU laws say though that any EU citizen can vote for local elections where they live, as well as EU elections.
Very true, and indeed France owes much to its revolution of 1789 - 99 and similar sentiments about what citizenship was, so as an American you are also a little like me from the UK, I can vote for a Member of Parliament, thus toward the election of the government at the last place I lived in. I also pay taxes and am filling in my second set of forms to recover roughly âŹ20 worth of returns from people who have had to pay copyright fees against things I have published. The full amount was nothing because I rarely publish in the UK anyway. But in return for paying taxes, not all of which I get back, I have a right to vote in Wales! I am a Scot and in two years there is an independence referendum in which I am not able to vote because my last place of residence in the UK was not there.
I think by now some people will be used to my dislike of being an 'Anglais', which I am not, an ex-patriot which I dislike and will willingly call myself a European but would prefer 'internationalist' because of precisely the increasingly global environment you mention and into which my career fits entirely.
In the U.S. there is little problem to vote from abroad. But now it seems they ask you to signt up for one party of the other before being able to vote!!???
I could not agree more. Not being able to vote at all is certainly a step very large step away from having your vote count where you last lived... While I may be able to vote in elections, my vote is diluted by those living where I used to, who do not have the same issues as I do. For instance, our elected officials are looking to change the tax code so that most US ex-pats will actually have some tax to pay. As our vote is not unified, very few politicians care that we are unhappy (the 6 million votes are heavily diluted in the sea of voices from the mainland).
We should not only demand the right to vote, but demand that we are equally represented. As an American, this is one of the things my country was founded on, and the state of affairs today is an outrage, particularly in an increasingly global environment.
I could vote in UK general elections if I wanted to - which I do not.
Americans remain registered to vote at their last place of residence, and can vote in all elections (you need to request an absentee ballot). For the record, there are an estimated 6 million Americans living abroad (more than a few States, combined!), and yet we have no unified representation. Our voices are spread across the country. We are still required to file (and sometimes pay) taxes, yet have absolutely no say in how they change the laws that affect us. Can you say taxation without representation?
Margo, apparently similar in quite a few countries. France is lagging behind.
I just thought further after my response and actually Hollande has appointed several members of his cabinet who were not born in France. In fact my siser-in-law was visting last week and spoke about the one who was born in Ticino in the south of Switzerland, Italian speaking, where my wife's family are. Apparently that minister is dual-national and has been much written about in the Ticinesi press. So Hollande better do something on principle.
Yes you can, communal elections and EU ones. Have to register, forms are available online. Hollande might give us legislature voting rights but presidential - there are many doubts about that. But I agree overall.
I am taking the liberty of resuscitating this exchange of views because there has been a significant development today which may affect many of us. The Overseas Electors Bill, which seeks to extend the basis on which British citizens outside the UK qualify to participate in parliamentary elections, and would remove the â15-year ruleâ which prevents British citizens living overseas from registering to vote if they have lived abroad for more than 15 years, has today passed its Second Reading in the House of Commons without a division.
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Except donât get too excited as only a private membersâ bill, so only a very slim chance of getting anywhereâŚ
Further to the above, I have just received the following information from the Votes for Life for Brits Abroad blog:
"OVERSEAS VOTING (ELECTORS) BILL
Colleagues.
On Friday 23rd The Overseas Electors Bill passed the 2nd reading in the House of Commons. you can read the text from Hansard as under.
All those who are afflicted with frozen State pensions will be interested in the views of Sandy Martin MP for Ipswich. He spoke at length about the Frozen pension situation.
Nevertheless Mr. Martin was mistaken on two matters. The first that Jamaica is not a Frozen State Pension country (he claimed it was). Secondly his speech wandered considerably from the point of the debate which concerns the VOTE, and that alone.
It is true that IF one had the vote that itself becomes a handle with which to influence the pension issue. However Mr. Martin spoke at length why Britons abroad should NOT have the vote. He was vehemently opposed to the idea.
The end of the debate was remarkable. The Shadow deputy Leader of the Labour Party bench (Cat Smith) , though she said she supported the bill embarked on what a fellow Labour member (Paul Flynn) called a âfilibusterâ which would have talked the Bill out of time. Geoffrey Clifton Brown (Cons) intervened. He requested a division (as a point of order â which to my mind it was not) - But no division took place because the ânaysâ did not put forward any tellers (those who tally the votes).
The âAyesâ had it, as they say.
We await the debate in the forthcoming âCommittee Stageâ
Harry Shindler was delighted! He tells me that if the Bill fails because of tactics of Labour Party he will resign his life time membership. He is the oldest member of the Labour Party. Various members praised Harry for his steadfast campaigning on this matter."
It has been said that if the Bill passed this stage it will be taken up by the government.
How long this will take will be anyoneâs guess as it has been a promise in Conservative Party manifestos without anything happening.
There is at present a case against the legality of the Referendum because overseas voters who have been excluded from voting in general elections were not allowed to vote, even though they are the ones most likely to be affected.
The only overseas voters who are particularly affected are those who retain strong financial ties with the UK. Those who have emigrated lock stock and barrel will hardly feel the change. In my opinion the people who will be most affected by Brexit are the people who live and work in Britain.
I wish the people who are keen to have the right to vote in the UK well but the outcome will not affect me in any way, I cannot see why I would want to vote there, Iâve managed well enough without doing so for the last 32 years.
Itâs important to me for the same reason I voted in the referendum, for my younger family members. Itâs not that I am particularly affected personally, but I still care what happens to my country of birth.
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Luckily my children are over 18 and have their own vote.
David,
We have left UK lock, stock and barrel. However, we are not emigrants, we are British EU citizens living in France.
We were born in UK, have worked there and have our pensions governed by UK legislation. so could very well feel any change in legislation.
Democracy needs participation and I find your attitude astonishing.
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As I do yours. People are different and have different priorities.
Not when they come knocking on the door for you they donât.
Please explain. Who are they and why will they be knocking in my door?